The field of art to which this invention pertains is the absorption of one or more gas species from a flowing gas stream. In particular, the present invention pertains to the separation of gas species which are particularly aggressive towards conventional materials of construction which are used to build absorbers. More specifically, the invention relates to a gas absorber for removing at least one gaseous component from a flowing gas stream by contacting the gas stream with a lean liquid stream to absorb at least a portion of the gaseous component to produce a rich liquid stream comprising the gaseous component and a flowing gas stream having a reduced concentration of the gaseous component.